American Culture Studies Major
As an American culture studies (AMCS) major, you will study many different fields to gain a deeper understanding of American culture in all of its complexities. AMCS students explore culture-related topics and issues that demand multiple perspectives and methodologies. They also consider the mutual relevance of various disciplines to any single object of study in American culture while developing the knowledge and skills necessary to study a wide array of cultural objects.
sample courses:
Beginning with Hayek's The Road to Serfdom and Buckley's God and Man at Yale, this course examines some of the major conservative writers and thinkers in the United States since World War II. The course includes readings by Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, Barry Goldwater, Phyllis Schlafly, Irving Kristol, Newt Gingrich, and Pat Buchanan as well younger conservatives like Mark Steyn, Jonah Goldberg, Ramesh Ponnuru, S. E. Cupp, and Kevin Williamson. Several classes are devoted to Black conservatives including Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, and Walter Williams.
Overview of sociological understandings of race, with a particular focus on race relations in the contemporary United States. We begin by investigating how sociologists understand racial distinctions. We then shift our attention to patterns of racial inequality in the U.S., investigating the intersection of economic, political, and racial stratification. After analyzing national trends in racial stratification, we narrow the focus to particular regions and metropolitan areas, including St. Louis, to shed light on pressing public concerns such as the interrelationships between race and the criminal justice system. The course ends by looking beyond U.S. borders to compare the way that race is understood in other countries.
our students have gone on to become:
Doctors
Lawyers
Financial Advisors
College Advisors
Editors
Nurses
Professors
